Are the Koch Brothers Funding Rush Limbaugh?

Just in time for the release of Brave New Foundation’s new film, Koch Brothers Exposed, Rush Limbaugh has thrown in with Charles and David Koch in their letter war with Obama campaign manager Jim Messina. No surprise there; Rush has made his fortune defending the rich and powerful against the 99%. But does Rush actually have a vested interest in the Koch brothers’ success?

The letter war started when Messina sent a fundraising letter saying the billionaire brothers bankroll “Tea Party extremism” and manipulate oil prices to buttress their energy business. The Kochs responded that Obama was treading on their “right to free speech.” (To them, I guess, being criticized by the president is tantamount to being arrested for sedition.) Team Obama shot back again, and here we are.

Rush has taken to the airwaves and lauded the Kochs. “This is how you do it,” he says. And on the surface, the reason for Rush’s apologetics is straightforward enough: he’s a man of the Right, and so are the Koch brothers. But below the surface of this defense lies a much more complex and insidious truth. The fact is that Rush needs the Kochs,and the Kochs need Rush.

Limbaugh is, fundamentally, a mouthpiece for conservative propaganda. He’s not a researcher. He’s not a grassroots organizer. He’s a mouthpiece. And where would he be without propaganda to spout? He has to get his ideas from somewhere. He can’t feed the right-wing echo chamber that’s hijacking our democracy if someone isn’t feeding him first. That’s where the Kochs come in.

The video we made with Sen. Bernie Sanders reveals the Kochs’ general method, whether Limbaugh is involved or not: fund an army of right-wing organizations so that politicians and pundits know exactly what to say:

Americans for Prosperity, the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, Manhattan Institute: the list of Koch-backed groups goes on and on. And when such groups badmouth Social Security, say, or worker rights, that gives people like Limbaugh something to talk about.

The reverse is true too: without people like Rush — or, for that matter, Fox News’s Megyn Kelly and Laura Ingraham, who also just defended the Koch brothers against Obama — the Kochs could never spread their pro-corporate ideology as far and wide as they have. That’s why the Kochs provide the financial fuel that lets these people yap their trap. The propagandists need the funders, and vice versa.

Koch Brothers Exposed goes into detail on exactly how this echo chamber works. The reality is that corruption doesn’t happen mainly when a rich guy wangles a quid-pro-quo from a politician in a smoke-filled room. It happens when interests align so that powerful people have an incentive to stick up for each other and keep things just the way they are.

So are the Koch brothers funding Limbaugh? I’m not sure Rush has ever sent them an invoice. But he doesn’t have to. And that’s what’s so insidious about what the Kochs do.

Those mother fuckers probably throw their money at every, even vaguely, right leaning person and organization in the country.

http://www.facebook.com/hakem.burhan Hakem Burhan

They don’t have that kind of money to do that the way the Bigoted Leftists do.

Redacted

Hold on now little righty, does your pastor know you’re on the internet unsupervised? How about your mother?

Anarchy Pony

Do you live in some world where reality is backwards? They have tens of billions of dollars. They could throw around a couple million the way normal people throw around five ten or dollars. And leftist bigots? Are you for real?

DeepCough

Remember: George Soros is the single financier of all things “Liberal” and “Leftist.”

Anarchy Pony

Oh, of course. How could I forget about our Bigoted Leftist Supreme Overlord George Soros? Or BLSO:GS.

http://www.facebook.com/hakem.burhan Hakem Burhan

Funny because the Bigoted Leftist Assholes who control every facet of this country have Multi-Trillions to throw around.

DeepCough

Oh, you mean those “Bigoted Leftist Asshole” on Wall Street? Yeah, they literally have license to borrow and spend money that the government wishes it had.

Jin The Ninja

name one member of this supposed cabal:

Hadrian999

soros, according to the right everything bad that has ever happened or could happen in the future was bankrolled by george soros

gwen jackson

there is no “left-wing cabal” because there is in fact no real “left-wing”, nor any real “right-wing”, for that matter.
But i do love watching people endlessly debate the merits of each imaginary “side”; it reminds me that there’s no hope for humanity and it will never be anything more than it’s ever been, a bunch of petty, shortsighted, bickering idiots.

Jin The Ninja

? are you suggesting that i’m debating the existence of one? because i wasn’t…

Anarchy Pony

You have no idea what you are talking about. You’re just parroting some fucking nonsense.

Redacted

You should ask those bigoted leftist assholes about getting those meds refilled champ.

Anarchy Pony

You have no idea how much funnier that is with the patronizing “champ” at the end.

DesertSun59

Trolls are always amusing.

mannyfurious

Technically, I suppose the bigot of a bigot is still a bigot. At least we’re not assholes….

sigh…. don’t you ever wonder how major economic and foreign policy doesn’t change no matter who’s in charge? They throw their money at left-wingers too, it’s all a pageant…

Redacted

Ol’ Rush is looking more and more like a blob monster every time I see him. It’s a shame Gary Gygax died before he could see a Gelatinous Cube in the flesh.

Mamagriff50

Anyone with a brain knows Rush Limbaugh is just a brainless puppet. He needs a paycheck too. He doesn’t seem to have the morals to care where his pay comes from.

gwen jackson

Nobody who makes their living on television gives a shit who’s paying them, they just say their lines and spend the money. They’re ALL actors, EVEN the actors who say things you like hearing.
I love how Americans judge whether a commentator is full of shit or not:
Say something I agree with= TRUTH
Say something I disagree with= LYING IMMORAL ASSHOLE

“I believe everything that man is saying, because it’s exactly what I was hoping to hear.”
Dance, little puppets–and make sure you feel really self-righteous while you do so!

In Less Obvious News: NPR is ALSO funded by the Kock Bros., and the difference between right wing and left wing is a fallacy indulged in by weak-minded morons who are too-easily taken in by simplistic false debates.

Everybody have a nice day, always accept the answer you expect, and most importantly, don’t think too hard or you might hurt your brainz!

Redacted

In other news, a blowhard storm is sweeping over Disinfo.com, weather advisory is try harder.